“Aqua Regia has been one of the most special quizzes on the Hyderabad quizzing circuit. I've been enlightened by it from the past three years from Std. VIII. The quiz is unique as it doesn't simply test total recall but requires out of box thinking" says Rohan Naidu of All Saints school, Hyderabad, who is one of the winners of the the National Science Quiz. Aqua Regia was held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Auditorium jointly by the Triumphant Institute of Management Education and the SRM University, Chennai.
Tough fight
More than 48,000 children have participated in the prelims from 6 major regions of India.The finals was a tough fight between 6 teams of 2 each representing Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Ajay Antony, the quizmaster of the National Science Quiz says “We have received an amazing response from the students from all over India and it has been a great journey to the finals". Children from 1700 schools have been a part of this quiz from all over India.
Syed Mustafa Hashmi, the last years winner, who is now Std XII says “ It is an enthralling event that required us to simply apply science into technical applications.” Rohan Naidu and Krishna of All Saints School, Hyderabad beat last years winners, Saurabh Subramanian and Karthik Jayachandran of Smt,Sulochana Devi Singhania School, Thane and emerged the winners while Ankit De and Abhishel Ghose stood as 2nd runners up from Delhi Public School Newtown, Kolkata.
The winners were given BSA bikes and the 1st runners up won Del Laptops. Aqua Regia was certified as the largest Science Quiz by the Guinness World Records in 2007 and from then it has a record of more than six lakh students participating in the quiz in these four years. "We weren't prepared much. Just went through few books and watched TV for ads" says Krishnan from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Calicut, who was one of the finalists in the quiz.
On the whole, it was a mind boggling event that encouraged students from all over India to increase their knowledge in science and apply it in their daily lives.
